Using Quantitative Spectroscopic Analysis to Determine the Properties and Distances of Type II Plateau Supernovae: SN 2005cs and SN 2006bp The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Dessart, Luc, Stéphane Blondin, Peter J. Brown, Malcolm Hicken, D. John Hillier, Stephen T. Holland, Stefan Immler, et al. 2008. “Using Quantitative Spectroscopic Analysis to Determine the Properties and Distances of Type II Plateau Supernovae: SN 2005cs and SN 2006bp.” The Astrophysical Journal 675 (1): 644–69. https:// doi.org/10.1086/526451. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41399737 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP Draft version October 28, 2018 Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 10/09/06 USING QUANTITATIVE SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE THE PROPERTIES AND DISTANCES OF TYPE II-PLATEAU SUPERNOVAE: SNe 2005cs AND 2006bp Luc Dessart1,2, Stephane´ Blondin3, Peter J. Brown4, Malcolm Hicken 3, D. John Hillier 5, Stephen T. Holland6,7, Stefan Immler6,7, Robert P. Kirshner3, Peter Milne1, Maryam Modjaz3, & Peter W. A. Roming4 Draft version October 28, 2018 ABSTRACT We analyze the Type II Plateau supernovae (SN II-P) 2005cs and 2006bp with the non-LTE model atmosphere code CMFGEN. We fit 13 spectra in the first month for SN 2005cs and 18 for SN 2006bp. Swift ultraviolet photometry and ground-based optical photometry calibrate each spectrum. Our anal- ysis shows both objects were discovered less than 3 days after they exploded, making these the earliest SN II-P spectra ever studied. They reveal broad and very weak lines from highly-ionized fast ejecta with an extremely steep density profile. We identify He ii 4686A˚ emission in the SN 2006bp ejecta. Days later, the spectra resemble the prototypical Type II-P SN 1999em, which had a supergiant-like photospheric composition. Despite the association of SN 2005cs with possible X-ray emission, the emergent UV and optical light comes from the photosphere, not from circumstellar emission. We surmise that the very steep density fall-off we infer at early times may be a fossil of the com- bined actions of the shock wave passage and radiation driving at shock breakout. Based on tailored CMFGEN models, the direct-fitting technique and the Expanding Photosphere Method both yield distances and explosion times that agree within a few percent. We derive a distance to NGC 5194, the host of SN 2005cs, of 8.9±0.5 Mpc and 17.5±0.8 Mpc for SN 2006bp in NGC 3953. The luminosity of SN 2006bp is 1.5 times that of SN 1999em, and 6 times that of SN 2005cs. Reliable distances to Type II-P supernovae that do not depend on a small range in luminosity provide an independent route to the Hubble Constant and improved constraints on other cosmological parameters. Subject headings: radiative transfer – stars: atmospheres – stars: supernovae: individual: 2005cs, 2006bp, 1999gi – stars: distances – stars: evolution 1. INTRODUCTION tually processed into light, that gets radiated with a rate 8 Although radiation represents a negligible fraction of equivalent to a few × 10 L⊙ sustained for three months. the energy in core-collapse supernova (SN) explosions, Depending on the progenitor radius, the shock emerges most of what we know about these events is inferred at the surface between a few hours and a day after core from the analysis of spectra and light curves. The grav- bounce, with a radiative precursor that is expected to itational binding-energy of the newly-formed protoneu- heat and accelerate the surface layers, producing a soft tron star is on the order of 1053 erg. Within millisec- X-ray flash (Chevalier 1982; Ensman & Burrows 1992; onds after core bounce, a few × 1052 erg of this energy Matzner & McKee 1999; Blinnikov et al. 2000). Cool- is used to photodissociate the infalling outer iron core. ing, due to adiabatic expansion and radiative losses, is Starting with an electron-neutrino burst when the core moderated as time progresses by recombination of hydro- reaches nuclear densities, the radiation of neutrinos of gen during the photospheric phase of Type II SN and by non-thermal excitation by unstable isotopes. Although arXiv:0711.1815v1 [astro-ph] 12 Nov 2007 all flavors operates over a few tens of seconds after the bounce as the protoneutron star cools, and carries away UV emission is significant for the first few days after a few × 1052 erg. These neutrinos are believed to deposit shock breakout, the spectral energy distribution (SED) ∼1051 erg (1% of the total) into the infalling progenitor subsequently peaks further and further into the red, first mantle, reversing the accretion, and to provide the in- in the visual and then in the near-IR, a few months af- ternal and kinetic energy for the SN ejecta (Woosley & ter explosion (Kirshner et al. 1973,1975; Mitchell et al. Janka 2005). Only ∼1049 erg (0.01% of the total) is even- 2002; Leonard et al. 2002a; Brown et al. 2007). Core-collapse SN explosions constitute an excellent 1 Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, Univer- laboratory for inferring the properties of massive stars at sity of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA the end of their lives and, indirectly, their pre-SN evolu- 2 [email protected] tion. As the material expands, the photosphere recedes 3 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 01238, USA to deeper and deeper layers of the star’s former enve- 4 Pennsylvania State University, Department of Astronomy & lope, allowing the observer to probe all the way from the Astrophysics, University Park, PA 16802, USA surface at shock breakout to the innermost layers just 5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pitts- outside the compact remnant. The nebular phase, the burgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 6 Astrophysics Science Division, X-Ray Astrophysics Branch, epoch when the ejecta become optically thin throughout Code 662, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (∼3-4 months after explosion for Type II SNe), permits 20771, USA the inspection of the regions where the blast originated, 7 Universities Space Research Association, 10211 Wincopin Cir- offering a means to constrain the mechanism and the cle, Columbia MD 21044, USA morphology of the explosion as well as the nucleosyn- 2 thetic yields. nificant improvement in the understanding the energy Detailed quantitative analyzes focus on the early, pho- content of the Universe. tospheric, evolution (Ho¨eflich 1988; Eastman & Kirsh- This paper is structured as follows. In the next section, ner 1989; Schmutz et al. 1990; Baron et al 1996, 2000, we present the photometric and spectroscopic datasets. 2003, 2004, 2007; Mitchell et al. 2002; Dessart & Hillier In §3, we present the model atmosphere code CMFGEN 2005a,2006ab), because the ejecta are best suited for and describe our methods. In §4, we present a quan- “standard” model atmosphere computations: There is titative spectroscopic analysis at 13 photospheric-phase an optically-thick base where the radiation thermalizes; epochs for SN 2005cs, and in §5, analyze 18 epochs for there is no contribution from non-thermal excitation by SN 2006bp. In §6, we apply the Expanding Photosphere isotopes like 56Ni and its daughter product 56Co; electron Method (EPM) as well as a direct-fitting method (in scattering dominates the opacity; and line and contin- the spirit of the Spectral-fitting Expanding Atmosphere uum formation is spatially confined. Advances in com- Method, SEAM, of Baron et al. 2000) to infer the dis- puter technology permit better handling of non-Local- tance and the explosion date for both SN events. In §7, Thermodynamic-Equilibrium (non-LTE) effects and the we discuss the implications of our results, and in §8, we critical role played by metals is now systematically ac- conclude. counted for (Baron et al. 2004; Dessart & Hillier 2005a). 2. SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS AND DATA Non-LTE effects are important even at early times, for REDUCTION example, to reproduce the He i lines observed in optical spectra. To sample the early photospheric phase with as many Here, we present a quantitative spectroscopic analysis optical observations as possible, we use multiple data of the early photospheric-phase evolution of the Type II sources. For both objects, Swift UVOT photometry is SNe 2005cs in NGC 5194 and SN 2006bp in NGC 3953, used. Spectra are less frequently observed than the pho- both with plateau-type light curves as shown in Fig. 1. tometry, typically once every few days, and this sets the We employ the non-LTE model atmosphere code CMF- limit to our analysis. In the next sections, we review GEN (Hillier & Miller 1998; Dessart & Hillier 2005a), the ground-based optical photometry, the optical spec- in its steady-state configuration, following a similar ap- troscopy, the Swift UVOT data. proach to Dessart & Hillier (2006a; hereafter DH06) and 2.1. Optical photometry their analysis of SN 1999em. A novel component of our study is the use of Swift (Gehrels et al. 2004) Ultra- UBVr’i’ photometry was obtained for SN 2005cs and Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT; Roming et al. 2005) SN 2006bp at the FLWO 1.2m telescope on Mt. Hop- ultraviolet photometry that places important constraints kins. The Minicam instrument was used for SN 2005cs on the SED in the UV, the early cooling of the photo- while the Keplercam was used for SN 2006bp (for details sphere, and the reddening. We infer from our models on cameras and photometric reduction see Hicken, 2007 that SN 2005cs and SN 2006bp, were discovered only ∼2 in preparation).